By Pat Savage
The recently hired director of technology for New York City isn’t happy, and is threatening lawsuits for companies she feels have let the city down.
So-called “tech czar” Jessica Tisch insisted last week that delays in installation and missing payments of approximately $30 million might mean hot water for several firms that are involved in creating no-cost WiFi kiosks.
In a conversation with the New York City Council, Tisch alleged that a firm – CityBridge — part-owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is taking longer than promised in developing LinkNYC stations.
“My patience is up,” whined Tisch, who took over the City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications in December. “I am poised to take any and all necessary action against these multiple breaches of contract to collect the money the city is owed.
Councilmembers heard that most of the allegedly missing stations are slated for neighborhoods outside of Manhattan. Said Tisch, “New Yorkers who would benefit most from this service are not getting it.”
But the hi-tech czar wasn’t finished. She also hurled the accusation that CityBridge is late on payments to the tune of more than $30 million for 2019. Nor has the company begun to pay down the $43 million debt it will have accrued by this coming June 30, when the fiscal year draws to a close.
Still not done, Tisch complained that the company has been dragging its feet when it comes to yanking out the last of New York City’s payphones.
“All of this is against the backdrop of millions of dollars in advertising revenue that CityBridge has reported it received over the same period,” Tisch told the City Council.
Under the agreement, the company was responsible for putting in as many as 10,000 of the WiFi stations in all of the city’s boroughs. According to de Blasio administration’s DoITT bean counters, it should bring something on the order of $500 million into the city’s coffers over the first dozen years. But the money has been slow in coming in, said Tisch.
A spokesperson for CityBridge told the New York Post that the tech czar’s claims were little more than “a fictional narrative that ignores the city’s responsibility for the current state of affairs. While the public’s use of LinkNYC’s free services has far exceeded expectations, installing Links has proven more difficult and costly than expected — largely due to the city’s own rules and bureaucracy. For nearly two years, CityBridge has tried to work with the city to solve these problems, but we have been consistently met with silence and delay. CityBridge has maintained LinkNYC’s free services for the public — across all five boroughs — at no cost to users or taxpayers and is committed to the continued success and expansion of the program.”
